Brett happens

Vernacchia di San Gimignano 2011, Solo, Mattia Barzaghi ($25.53, Agence PF, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically farmed Vernacchia. Manually harvested. Gently pressed then fermented in stainless steel tanks with indigenous yeasts at 16-18ºC. Matured on the lees for five months with frequent stirring. 12.5% ABV. This is Barzaghi’s entry-level Vernacchia. Following a divorce, he has “reset” his branding (whence the reZet on the labels, the Z a vestige of the former line), renamed the cuvées and changed the label illustration to a photograph of him playing chess in the snow with his dog.
Subdued nose: wax, straw and a suggestion of flowers and nuts. Minerally and bright with an appealing leesy quality. High acidity but no shrillness due to the compensating extract. Long finish with a hint of salinity and a telltale bitter note. Clean and fresh: not the old-style Vernacchia some of us are on a quest for but lovely in its own right and light years better than the insipid-by-comparison Rocca delle Macìe. (Buy again? Yes.)